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Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 closes in Jeddah, cements role as global cultural platform
Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled And All That Is In Between, concluded on May 25, 2025, after a four-month run at the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, affirming its position as a leading global platform for Islamic arts. Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the Biennale brought together over 500 historical and contemporary works across five exhibition halls and expansive outdoor spaces spanning more than 100,000 square meters. With participation from 30 international institutions representing 21 countries, and featuring 29 new commissions, the event offered a rich exploration of Islamic culture through faith, time, and material heritage. One of the most notable highlights was the first-ever public display outside Makkah of the complete Kiswah, the cloth that covers the Holy Kaaba, shown alongside rare sacred artifacts from Makkah and Madinah. The contemporary section, curated by Muhannad Shono, included standout works such as the AlMusalla Prize–winning structure by EAST Architecture Studio, made from palm fiber and partially featured in Venice as part of the Rooted Transience Biennale's closing symposium was marked by the announcement of several forward-looking initiatives by Rakan Altouq, Vice Chairman of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and Assistant Minister of Culture. These include grants for joint research, a digitization platform to archive the exhibition's works, and international conferences aimed at expanding knowledge-sharing on Islamic Biennale also had a significant community and educational impact, with over 23,110 students visiting and more than 15,000 participants engaging in 446 public programs, including guided tours, symposia, and hands-on workshops. Notable cultural initiatives included Turuq, a culinary and cultural exploration of movement and trade, and MADE., a design forum connecting global creatives with Islamic Al-Bakree, CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, praised the collaborative spirit behind the Biennale's success. 'The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale has surpassed expectations in its scale and impact. We are proud to have welcomed a broad and diverse audience, from local schoolchildren to international scholars.'
Saudi Gazette
09-05-2025
- General
- Saudi Gazette
‘Rooted Transience' exhibition brings Saudi AlMusalla Prize to Venice Architecture Biennale
VENICE — The Diriyah Biennale Foundation presented Rooted Transience, an architectural exhibition showcasing the winning project of the inaugural AlMusalla Prize 2025, as an official Collateral Event of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition opens May 10 and runs through November 23, 2025, at the historic Abbazia di San Gregorio in Venice, Italy. Curated by architect and researcher Faysal Tabbarah, Rooted Transience explores the architectural typology of the musalla — a temporary, adaptable space for prayer — and its potential to inspire new architectural solutions grounded in sustainability, impermanence, and flexibility. The exhibition situates musalla design within historical, material, and contemporary contexts, examining how such spaces have evolved and continue to influence Islamic spatial practices. The exhibition features full-scale fragments of the winning design by EAST Architecture Studio, in collaboration with artist Rayyane Tabet and engineering firm AKT II. It also showcases the shortlisted entries by AAU Anastas, Asif Khan, Dabbagh Architects, and Office of Sahel AlHiyari for Architecture. Alongside these contemporary projects, archival documents and imagery trace the historical lineage of musalla architecture in Islamic societies. The AlMusalla Prize, launched by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and first unveiled at the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah in January 2025, recognizes architectural innovation in temporary sacred spaces. The winning entry, titled On Weaving, employs Saudi date palm waste materials to reinterpret traditional forms. Palm fronds are repurposed into a structural alternative to conventional columns and beams, while woven palm fibers form a façade that evokes heritage techniques and offers a contemporary environmental approach. Vice Chairman of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, Rakan Al-Touq, described the prize as a landmark moment for both Saudi cultural policy and the broader field of Islamic arts, stating: 'It represents, as the wider Islamic Arts Biennale does, a return to the plurality of Islamic arts — presenting the many forms it includes, in the context in which they were conceived.' Prince Nawaf bin Ayyaf, Chair of the AlMusalla Prize jury, noted the significance of presenting the project in Venice. 'Venice has long been a crossroads of cultural exchange, making it the perfect setting to explore how the untapped typology of a musalla can contribute to contemporary architectural discourse,' he said. 'By bringing fragments of the AlMusalla Prize from Jeddah to Venice, we aim to demonstrate how traditional architectural practices rooted in sustainability and adaptability can inspire new solutions.' A companion publication, co-edited by Prince Nawaf bin Ayyaf and Faysal Tabbarah, will be released during the exhibition. Published by KAPH, the book will expand on the themes of transience and place-making in Islamic architecture. — SG
Arab News
20-02-2025
- General
- Arab News
Diriyah Islamic Arts Biennale: The making of ‘On Weaving' — winner of the inaugural AlMusalla Prize
JEDDAH: Currently situated under the expansive canopies outside Jeddah's Western Hajj Terminal is 'On Weaving,' the winning design of the inaugural AlMusalla Prize — an international award for the design of a musalla, a place for prayer and contemplation that is open to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The winners of the inaugural edition of the award — which is part of the Diriyah Islamic Arts Biennale — are a collective including Dubai and Beirut-based EAST Architecture Studio, structural engineer Christopher Blust from AKT II, and Beirut- and San Francisco-based artist Rayyane Tabet. They designed a modular structure inspired by regional weaving traditions and constructed from sustainable local materials such as date palm waste and palm fronds and fibers. The space was immediately popular with visitors during the opening days of the biennale, with many heading inside to one of the smaller rooms to pray. A summary of 'On Weaving' on the biennale website states: 'The double-sided pedestal is staggering in its ascent and thinning out as it reaches towards the sky. Its form resembles a loom, paying homage to tangible and intangible cultural heritage of weaving traditions and craftsmanship. It is autonomous, but also modular to suggest multiple uses — acting as structure, function, and ornament. The earthy colors that make up the musalla's exterior are energized with color within the structure's interior, where natural dyes made from local and regional plants are used to create bright reds, blues, greens and yellows. The musalla's open courtyard invites visitors to sit, gather or pray, individually or communally.' 'The brief for the competition called for a collaborative team that brings together an architect, an artist, and a structural engineer and fabrication expert,' Nicolas Fayad, co-founder of EAST Architecture Studio, told Arab News. 'From the very first moment, we worked together conceptually and philosophically on what it means to build a musalla today — knowing that musallas, unlike mosques, are largely nomadic in nature; they were built by Bedouins in the desert (and could be) moved from one place to another.' So Fayad and his collaborators set out to create a structure that could easily be assembled, disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere (indeed, after the biennale ends on May 25, it will be moved to another location). It features an open central courtyard and prayer spaces and somewhat resembles a loom, addressing ideas of togetherness and proximity — core tenets of prayer in Islam. The façades were created by weaving together palm fronds and fibers, and the gaps let in natural light, as well as allowing the musalla to be incorporated into its surroundings. 'Our musalla looks at the legacy of cultural typologies in spaces of worship, coupled with weaving as a craft,' Fayad explained. '(It also serves) as a structural performance that uses local material — most importantly, waste that comes from a natural material. We have identified throughout our research that there's a lot of waste that comes from palm trees in Saudi Arabia.' The modular structure used engineered, glue-laminated palm-wood composite, which is the product of the waste of 150 palm trees — proof of the ability to use local, sustainable materials to create lasting architectural structures. What is so striking about the structure is not just the materials used to make it and the way in which it was created, but the literal and metaphorical tribute the structure pays to weaving. 'On Weaving,' Fayad explained, is a metaphor for creativity and a reference to a material culture long dominant in the region,' adding that the design of the space readapts the narrative of woven textile as both an art and a functional design element. Weaving is itself a meditative ritual, of course, so here it serves as both an important part of the design process while also reflecting spirituality and the cultural heritage of the Kingdom and the wider Gulf region. '(We are presenting) the idea of weaving not only as a craft or as a way of making, but also as a way of holding art, architecture and engineering together as part of a continuous tradition,' said Fayad.
